Samurai of Cuisine, On a New Battlefield

By WILLIAM GRIMES

Published: January 14, 2005

The tension is mounting in Kitchen Stadium. It is so thick, in fact, that you could cut it with an eight-inch Sabatier fillet knife. Rick Bayless, the chef at Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago, has just walked through a wall of artificial fog like a gladiator entering the arena. Across a fully equipped double kitchen, a roaming spotlight illuminates the stony face of Iron Chef Bobby Flay, standing atop a pedestal with arms crossed, radiating chefly power. In a few seconds, the two men will face off in a battle of culinary honor that only one can win. This is the law of ''Iron Chef America,'' a new series that begins on the Food Network on Sunday night.

For one hour, Mr. Flay and Mr. Bayless slice, dice and blend like mad, racing against the clock to create a tasting menu that showcases buffalo, a secret ingredient revealed just seconds ago. Their challenge is to turn a giant slab of red meat into five dishes that will be scored by a panel of three food experts and celebrities: Julie Chen, a host of ''The Early Show'' on CBS; Jeffrey Steingarten, the food columnist for Vogue; and Ben Schmerler, the senior editor of the Zagat Survey. The Food Network's challenge is to translate the cult success of ''Iron Chef,'' a Japanese import that it began showing in 1999, into American terms without losing the campy, samurai ethos of the original.

The network has taped 10 battles for the new series, encouraged by strong ratings for four ''Iron Chef America'' specials that it broadcast last April. It has taken a cautious approach to tinkering with the franchise. ''This is one of the signature shows of the network,'' said Bruce Seidel, the Food Network's vice president of acquisitions and program planning. ''We wanted to stay close to the essence of the program while still putting our own stamp on it, which is a 100 percent serious approach to the food.''

There's no question that the roster of Iron Chefs and their challengers represents top culinary talent. In addition to Mr. Flay, the Iron Chefs include Mario Batali, of Babbo and Lupa in New York, and Masaharu Morimoto, formerly the executive chef at Nobu in New York. The network has also anointed the first female Iron Chef, Cat Cora, a well-traveled New York chef. They will be tested by challengers like Ming Tsai, of Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Mass.; Alex Lee, the executive chef at Daniel in New York; and Roberto Donna of Galileo in Washington.

Loyal fans of the original series, which ran in Japan from 1993 to 1999 and eventually totaled nearly 300 episodes, will find themselves in familiar territory with ''Iron Chef America.'' The faces have changed, but the mythology remains the same. The Chairman, played in the American version by a shaven-headed martial arts champion named Mark Dacascos, is an aristocratic gourmet who amuses himself by pitting his team of Iron Chefs against culinary challengers. As before, the cooking starts when he raises the lid on the ''secret ingredient altar,'' makes a quick chopping motion and screams, ''Allez cuisine!,'' a crypto-French phrase that means ''Start cooking.''

''The goal was to preserve what the die-hards love, and also to make it exciting for people just coming to it,'' said Stephen Kroopnick, the executive producer of the series. ''You don't have to know Episode 121, Battle Octopus.'' His company, Triage Entertainment, as Mr. Kroopnick admits, was not the obvious choice. It is best known for producing the Victoria's Secret fashion show and the Miss Universe pageant, but the Food Network wanted a big-event flavor for ''Iron Chef America,'' which was filmed at the Chelsea Market in Manhattan.

To keep the series true to the original, it arranged for an indoctrination session. ''The first thing the Food Network did was ship us off to Japan, where Fuji put us in a room to watch 200 episodes,'' Mr. Kroopnick said, referring to Fuji Television. ''It was like passing on a legacy.''

The Food Network learned a valuable lesson from UPN's ''Iron Chef U.S.A.,'' broadcast in 2001. A small studio audience, seated on bleachers, was encouraged to scream nonstop at the contestants as the host, William Shatner, sampled dishes. The chefs, unaccountably, did not talk about what they were making, and the camera rarely focused on the food being prepared. The show died a quick death.

After ''allez cuisine,'' however, ''Iron Chef America'' takes some unfamiliar twists and turns. For its commentator, the Food Network drafted Alton Brown, the ebullient, fast-talking host of ''Good Eats.'' Working with a floor reporter (Kevin Brauch of the Fine Living channel's ''Thirsty Traveler''), Mr. Brown discusses what the chefs are up to, explaining techniques and ingredients along the way. Things like huitlacoche.

''You have to wonder, who first got hungry enough to look at it and say, let's eat some of that stuff?'' he says, marveling at an evil-looking sauce in Mr. Bayless's blender. Huitlacoche, he explains, is a fungus that attacks corn, causing the kernels to swell and blacken. Mexican cooks treat it like truffle. When Mr. Bayless coats buffalo steaks in lard for searing, Mr. Brown explains that lard, because it conducts heat efficiently, counteracts the temperature-lowering moisture that escapes from the steaks during cooking.

In Japan, expert commentary and color commentary were assigned to two different people. Kenji Fukui, the color man, would trot over to Dr. Yukio Hattori for hard information. Dubbing lent an extra layer of strangeness to this minuet. Mr. Brown combines both roles. From time to time, the camera cuts away from the cooking action and allows him to deliver a small lecture on, say, the various types of chili peppers and how heat in chilies is measured.

This is pertinent to the contest at hand, an excellent matchup between two chefs who use many of the same ingredients but in very different ways. Mr. Flay is known for his freewheeling interpretation of modern Southwestern cuisine, while Mr. Bayless, a purist, is a champion of authentic Mexican regional cuisine. Both teams are readier for the challenge than most viewers realize. They have come to Kitchen Stadium knowing that they will be cooking with one of two ingredients, striped bass or buffalo, a choice negotiated in advance with the network.

As the clock ticks, the disassembled buffalo slabs are undergoing a metamorphosis. Mr. Flay, who is beginning to look frazzled, is working on a ''cowboy breakfast'' of poached egg on a grilled buffalo paillard, a curry-glazed buffalo steak, a ''deconstructed'' buffalo salad and a Native American buffalo plate with fried bread.

He inspects a mango chutney delivered by one of his two sous-chefs. ''Dude, you killed this,'' he says, flipping the chutney into the trash.

Mr. Flay laughs but looks daggers at Mr. Brauch. At one point, bourbon flares up in a hot skillet, nearly singeing Mr. Flay's eyebrows and bringing back memories, no doubt, of his famous ''Iron Chef'' battle with Mr. Morimoto, when he was nearly electrocuted by his own stove.

Mr. Bayless, meanwhile, seems to be operating in a different time zone, gliding smoothly through the intricate steps required to make a spicy empanada, or baked turnover, and a honey-crusted buffalo steak in fava bean sauce. At times, he seems to be smiling at a private joke. His team, working silently, does not appear to have broken a sweat, although the strategy of waiting until the last moment to move the plated dishes to the table is driving the off-camera floor producer to distraction.

In the final seconds, the huitlacoche sauce goes over a buffalo steak. Mr. Bayless sprinkles fried bits of guajillo pepper over buffalo tartare. Now it's up to the judges, who award a maximum of 20 points to each contestant for flavor, artistry and originality. The top scorer will be the victor in Battle Buffalo.

The show is a curious blend of campy entertainment and dead-serious cooking. Top chefs put their skills and reputations on display. They submit to the criticisms of the judges. Emotions can run high. On ''Iron Chef,'' Mr. Morimoto took great offense when the challenger, Mr. Flay, after putting the final touch on his dishes, leaped to the table and pumped his fists in the air in celebration. Mr. Morimoto glowered, then made some choice remarks that set up one of the great ''Iron Chef'' grudge matches.

''Cooking is all about routine moves, and there is no routine in the contest,'' said Mr. Bayless, who prepared for the event by drilling his team for weeks on end. ''We trained like we were going to the Olympics.''

That's pretty much how the competition saw it, too. ''I look at this as more a sporting event than a night in the restaurant,'' Mr. Flay said. ''You're competing against someone, and there's a time limit. I go into it thinking it's like a basketball game.'' There's a difference. On ''Iron Chef America'' the officials get to eat the three-point play.

Photos: The challenger Rick Bayless, foreground, during his battle with Bobby Flay on ''Iron Chef America,'' which begins Sunday on the Food Network. (Photo by Food Network)(pg. E1); Scenes from ''Iron Chef America'': above, Cat Cora, the first woman Iron Chef, in her battle with the challenger Alex Lee, executive chef at Daniel in Manhattan; right, Iron Chef Bobby Flay, at left, up against Rick Bayless. (Photo by Julien Jourdes for The New York Times); (Photo by Food Network)(pg. E30)